Together at last?
by SilverChocolate
Summary: completely revisedI know that there are a lot of stories about Arnold and Helga getting together...but this one is different. Well, mainly it's just about Arnold and Helga getting closer together.
1. That Football shaped boy?

Ok! Now, Arnold decides he really likes Helga...yah yah...ok. . .They're Sophomore in high school. He needs help asking a girl out to the dance, she helps him...then he realizes, he likes her a lot more than he knew. 

A/N: I thought I could revise this a little…so…that's why I reposted it up.   
  
  


**Chapter One: **The Boy With The Football Shaped Head.   
  
"Oooh be still my beating heart!" Helga sighed, staring at Arnold as he walked past her in the hallway. She stuck her head in her open locker and looked at her picture of Arnold. "Oh Arnold, my love! How can I express how I really love you?" Helga sighed, batting her beautifully long eyebrows. Her shiny pink lips parted a sigh as she clasped her hands together. 

"Uh, Helga who are you talking to?" Rhonda asked curiously walking next to her wearing a pretty pink jacket, black leather pants and white tank-top. By the time she reached 7th grade, she got tired of the dull black fabric pants and red shirt she constantly wore.

Rhonda and Helga still weren't good friends, but they still managed to talk to each other. Rhonda had to ever since Helga turned into a beautiful lady during the summer before entering High School. Helga's face turned from the ugly duckling to a princess swan. If Rhonda didn't talk to her, everyone would think she was crazy.

"No one. Who would I be talking to?" She slammed the locker door shut, but then her long sleeve was caught in it. "Ack! My new fuschia shirt is stuck! This is soo not funny." She tried pulling it out. 

"Helga! You're going to ruin your sleeve!" Rhonda complained. "Try opening your locker!"   
She tried opening her locker door. But it didn't work. "It's not working! Now the door is stuck! What am I going to do, Rhonda?!" Helga got really mad, so she yanked on her sleeve forcefully and then she collapsed on the floor, with a half torn sleeve. "Aw man! Half of the sleeve is still stuck." Helga frowned.

"Ew, Helga, it looks dreadful!" Rhonda made a face. "Here, let me make it prettier." She took out a pair of scissors and cut off the whole sleeve and did the same to the other side. The long sleeves became a tank-top. "perfect."

Helga rubbed her arms. "I guess the sleeves were a bit too long for me anyway." 

In class, Helga sat next to Arnold. The handsome boy with the messy-yet neat-hair, muscled body, loving smile, and sweet personality. All she could do was stare at him and sigh. Ooh Arnold...I love you, I love you so much! I wish you would...I love y—

"Helga? What are you doing?" Arnold asked with concern.

"Um, nothing, Arnold…" She mumbled.

 "I think you should see a psychiatrist about you talking to thin air." He winked. 

  
Helga nearly melted. His wink was so wow to her. Oh, back to reality...she had to be mean to cover her real feelings, even though she's much nicer than before. "Just lay off, Arnold." She stopped saying stupid names to people since 6th grade mostly because it was getting lame.

  
Just then their teacher walked in announcing something "very exciting" happening. No one was the least bit excited because the last time he said something "very exciting" was happening, he was talking about finishing grading their mid-terms. 

"Anyways class, that very exciting thing is that there's going to be a dance coming up for the whole school! The theme is "Famous Couples"! So, you dress up as a couple with your date! Such as Romeo and Juliet, Marc Antony and Cleopatra..." 

"Barbie and Ken!?" Harold interjected. Everyone started to laugh. 

The teacher ignored his comment and continued. "Well, this is going to be the first big dance here. It's in three weeks! So get ready!"   
  


***

At basketball practice, Arnold and Gerald were talking about it too. 

"So, Gerald, who are you going to ask to the dance?" Arnold asked as he passed the ball to Gerald, doing drills. 

"Uh, maybe Pheobe. Man, she's perfect. Shiny black hair, chic glasses, soft skin, perfect grades. Ahh, I just get chills thinking about her." Gerald said as he wiped off the sweat from his forehead. He still had his tall hair and grew much taller. He had many muscles like Arnold, and was nearly the best at any sport. 

"Cool." Just then Arnold caught a glance at Ruth McDoogle. She was the same as before, chestnut brown hair, straight sparkling teeth, and pretty voice. Then Lila walked in the gym and called out Arnold's name. He winked at her, still running and passing the ball. She blushed furiously. After 8th grade she started to really like Arnold, but he had gotten over her. Lila had her reddish-light brown hair in braided pig tails, and freckles. She still had her country-styled skirt which wasn't allowed to be "popular". 

"Man Arnold, whenever you wink, you hypnotize the ladies!" Gerald commented as they walked in the locker room. "You are the man!! I wouldn't be too surprised if a girl didn't turn down your offer to go to the dance!" 

Gerald and Arnold walked out to the football field and saw Harold making touch-downs and yelling at everyone. Being the big guy and all. At the sidelines, Rhonda and others were doing backflips and twirls. Helga and Pheobe were sitting on the bleachers watching them and writing on a notepad. Helga wasn't into being a cheerleader even though she was as flexible as them, but she was in volleyball and softball. Pheobe was in karate and in the newspaper just like Helga and Arnold. Sid was also on the sidelines taking pictures for photography. 

"Now MOVE IT! FASTER! FASTER! HARDER! DON'T LEAVE TILL YOU'RE BRUISED!" Harold shouted, dictating everyone on the field. 

Helga watched them intently, telling Pheobe what to write down. "OK Phebes, Harold is really working everyone hard. We can all look forward to winning the next game, after the unfortunate loss last Saturday." 

"Brilliant, Helga. Just brilliant!" Pheobe said, writing what she said on the notepad. 

"Yeah, I know, Pheobe, I know." She looked around and saw Arnold and Gerald walking towards her. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?" she shouted. 

Arnold and Gerald jogged to them and sat on the bleachers too. "Just passing by, making sure you're working." Arnold said laughing. 

Gerald pulled Pheobe aside to ask her to the dance. 

"So, Arnold, are you interested in taking anyone to the dance?" Helga asked Arnold. She was ready to listen to him closely and make sure to give him her undivided attention. 

"I'm looking..." He looked around and saw Pheobe and Gerald walking away holding hands.

"Will ya look at that? Gerald and Pheobe are running off with each other. I guess she accepted his offer to go to the dance with him." Arnold faced Helga and smiled. She smiled back, Ooh hush my distempered breath. He's just smiling, she thought. 

Helga glanced at her watch. "It's getting a little late, I should be going home." She gathered her things.

"Hey, want a ride in my car?" Arnold smiled. 

"What? You've got a car?" Helga said surprised, standing up. 

"Yeah. Just got it. Earned it with some money I saved up. C'mon." Arnold guided her to his car in the parking lot. It was a used white honda accord. It was a little dirty, but it looked safe enough to ride in. She sat on the gray leather seats. 

"Your car is uhh...nice." She tried to bare a smile. It was nice in the inside, not on the outside.

"So, who do you want to ask you to the dance?" Arnold asked curiously as he drove out of the parking lot and mouthing the words to the song on the radio. 

She got nervous and said offensively, "Mind your own business..." She realized what she said then took it back. "I'm sorry, Arnold, I didn't mean that. I just have someone in mind, but I don't think he's interested." She looked out in the distance. 

"I bet he is interested in you. You're so much prettier than everyone else and better." he smiled.

"Thanks, but, still. He probably likes other people." She sighed. "Who are you going to ask to the dance?" She giggled. 

"Well…"

"I bet it's someone like Lila." Arnold turned a little pink in the cheeks. "Yeah, I remember that time she crushed your heart at the park...'Actually Arnold, I just like you, I don't like you like you. I'm ever so sorry'" Helga and Arnold started to laugh. 

"Yeah, and then you fell out of the tree! You just like climbing, 'eh?" Arnold said. 

"It's partly true. I was climbing the tree, then you guys came...well, I thought - you can do sooo much better than Lila. I mean, she's always ever so sorry about tons of things. Besides, you walked me home. I was happy." 

"You were?"   
"Uh-huh..." _I can't believe I told him that..._ She looked out the window for a while then before she knew it they were at her house.   
"Here we are, Helga!" Arnold parked his car in front of her house. "Don't forget, tonight we have to work on that article in the newspaper about the school play, OK?"  
"I won't forget, bye Arnold." She shut the door and waved a last good-bye to him at the front of her door. When she walked in the house, she only saw pictures of her on the walls, very few of Olga. Her parents had gotten tired of Olga because Olga had married to a poor writer who often cheated on her, and she was always working her ass off at a minimum pay job, and never called home because she was too ashamed of herself. After Olga got married, Mariam and Bob had appreciated Helga more and figured she would be better than Olga. Which was coming true. 

"Hi Helga, want a smoothie?" Mariam said when Helga walked in the kitchen. "`Specially made for you!" 

"Thanks...Mom." She took the smoothie and sat on the counter drinking it merrily. 

"You look very happy today." 

"Yeah, it's Arnold..."

"Oh that boy with the football head, the one you like so much?" 

"Yup, that's him." 

"Aw, I remember when I was feeling that way for Big Bob...and I never knew he liked me back. I knew it the first time we kissed. It was amazing. And now look...we're married." She sighed. 

"Uh, great story Mom. I gotta get going now. Bye." Helga ran upstairs into her room. She redecorated her room to blue and green instead of pink. All around were shelves full of her poetry and in her closet, she still had an Arnold Shrine. Except her new one was made of clay. 

She went in her closet and gazed at the shrine. "Oh sweet mercy, how gentle you've been to me, letting me get close to thy lover, in suspense for more each day, if only he would discover how much he means to me." She sighed.   


"Hey Arnold, how's the love life goin'?" Ernie asked at the dinner table, smashing his potatoes.   
"I can't say it's too great, can't say it's too bad either." Arnold sighed. He wished that he had a girlfriend. 

"That's OK Arnold," Grandpa said. "These things take time. Why I never got my first girlfriend till I was nineteen!" He smiled at Grandma. Arnold began to think that his grandparents were losing it, but of course, they've lost it since he was in 4th grade. 

Then there was a knock on the door. Mr. Hywen(spell check) went to get it. "Oh Hallo. You Arnold's play-mate? Come in, come in. Arnold! Your play-mate here." 

Helga walked into the dining room. "Hi Arnold. I told you I wouldn't forget." 

Arnold got up from the table. "I knew you wouldn't." He saw that Grandpa and everyone else was amazed to see Helga so pretty.

"Arnold, is she the same girl with one eyebrow who teased ya all the time?" Grandpa whispered.

"Yeah, Grandpa. Now Helga and I are going up stairs to my room." He and Helga walked up stairs.

 Arnold's room was the same as before, mostly blue and very high-tech. Helga almost fainted, she was in his room for the first time, well not the first time. She had hid in his closet many times, but it was the first time she was standing in his room with him. She was over-whelmed. Arnold looked at her curiously. "Are you OK Helga? You seem dazed again." 

"Huh? Oh...nevermind that, Arnold." She took a deep breath, inhaling the same air he inhaled. "Do you have the video of the play?" 

"Yeah, it's on my computer." He sat down and Helga stood next to him, looking at the screen and smelled his hair. Oohh his hair smells wonderful.

"Wow Arnold, I never knew the computer can do so many things." 

"Yup. Now pay attention to the play." He pointed out the places where they messed up on the script and when the backdrop was put at the wrong times. 

"That was a good play...what should I write?" Helga said after the play, flipping through pages in her notebook, getting ready to write. 

"Write: The play was a big success. Stinky Peterson did a good job at the leading role of a countryman striving to survive in the crazy world of show-business. Ruth McDoogle -" 

"Oooh" Helga winked as Arnold turned pink. "You're still interested in Ruth I see..." 

"Maybe, Helga. Well, fine. I am. I still am. I mean, she's just so pretty." Arnold smiled. "Can you help me get the courage to ask her to the dance?!" 

The thing I dread the most..."I don't know, Arnold..." 

"Oh please Helga, you're a good friend, and I've grown fond of you over the years, you understand me more...please?" Arnold pleaded. 

"Well, OK." Helga sighed. 

"You're wonderful Helga!" Arnold hugged her. One of the many times he has. Like that time when Helga got his hat back for him, he hugged her. (*I forgot what other times there were*)  
ooh he's hugging me!! Gotta get him off before I faint. "Get off, Arnold." 

"Sorry. It's just that, she's amazing...I need help."  
  


(Four days later)   
"Uh, Helga," Brainy breathed heavily. 

"what is it Brainy?" Helga said frustrated. "I have to get to lunch." 

"Wanna go to the dance with me?" He breathed even harder.

Helga looked at him and gave sorry eyes. "I'm sorry, Brainy but I don't think I want to go with anyone." She patted his back. 

Brainy fainted. It was true though, Helga didn't feel like going to the dance with anyone. Only Arnold, but she was helping him work his way to asking Ruth to the dance. "Stupid Ruth," she groaned and punched a door. 

"Helga!" It was Pheobe, running after Helga carrying tons of books and magazines. "I need your help!!" She fell over and landed on the ground next to Helga's feet, dropping all her stuff on the ground. 

"Aw, Phebes, lemme help you." Helga helped pick up her magazines and books. "What kind of books are these? The Beauty and the Beast? How to be elegant? And these magazines...Fashion? Vogue? Prom Dresses? BRIDAL GOWNS?! Pheobe! You aren't getting married!" 

"I know, Helga. I just need to find a good dress to wear to the dance with Gerald. And I'm not as primped or polished as you are. I really need you to help me! These books aren't helping me at all, I can't do it all myself." 

"Apparently not. Anyway, Phebes, let's look it over during lunch now, c'mon." They walked to the lunch room. Pheobe brought lunch so she got a table with Gerald. 

At the lunch line, Arnold was in back of Helga. "Hey Helga, can I go over to your house tomorrow so you can help me with my little dilemma?"

"Sure. I'm free tomorrow."

"Ya know, Pheobe's been acting a little strange today, know why?" 

"Yeah...she needs me to help her with something too. With choosing a good outfit for the dance. She even had bridal magazines with her." They reached the cash register. 

"five dollars" She said to Helga. Helga gave her 3 dollars. "I said five, you're two dollars short!"

"What?" She searched her pockets. "I'm sorry, that's all I have..."

"No prob., I got you." Arnold said as he tossed in the two dollars and the money for his lunch. 

"Thanks Arnold, I'll pay you back tomorrow." 

"No, it's OK." He looked for a table Gerald was sitting at. He spotted Gerald sitting with Pheobe talking lovey-dovey. "Look. It's Gerald sitting with Pheobe," Arnold laughed. "Should we join them?"

"We have to. I promised Pheobe I would help her." She smiled. 

"Hey Helga! Now you can help me," Pheobe said excitedly as she ate her sushi. "Which color would suit me? Red, pink, purple, blue or white?" 

Helga and Arnold sat down. "Well, Phebes, if you ask me, I think you look a lot better in red."

"Great." She pulled out a few sheets of paper tied together full of red dresses. "Now, which is better? Skirt? Or long dress...?" 

"Let me see that," She pulled the paper away from Pheobe. "Man, Phebes, you're too into this whole dance thing."

"Well, I have a date." She looked at Gerald. "I guess since you don't, you don't care much."  
"You can't choose any of these dresses, it's a "famous couples" dance, remember?" 

"Oh yeah," Pheobe said, tossing it in the garbage can. 

"Helga, you don't have a date?" Arnold asked curiously. "I thought lots of guys asked you already." 

"I'm just waiting for Mr. Right...and he hasn't asked me yet...so I'm just going to go by myself."   
  
  
  


At Helga's house the next day...

"Just practice on me. All you need to say is 'Hi Ruth...do you want to go to the dance with me?' I mean, she DOES know your name..." 

"Ok..." he took a deep breath and let it go slowly. "Hi Ruth! Uhh...do you...uhh....want to go to the dance with me?" 

"Of course, Arnold!" Helga sighed. She gave him a stupid smile, and she realized that he wasn't talking to her. She was pretending to be Ruth. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. "Arnold, that was good. But what do you plan to dress up as?" 

"Maybe Antony and Cleopatra...or Sonny and Cher!" Arnold and Helga both laughed. 

"Yeah, well, I would like to be Juliet. Remember that play? Man, I've had a whole new outlook on Shakespeare after that play. Maybe even those two from Gone With The Wind, you know, Rhett Butler and Scarlett O' Hara?" 

"That would be cool." Arnold looked around the room. "Very blue...what ever happened to your pink?" 

"I guess I just changed." She looked straight in his eyes, then suddenly jerked her head away from his eyes. "Let's practice some more."   
  


***

  
"Gerald. Today at basketball practice, I have to look really good." Arnold said, walking with Gerald down the hall. "Helga set it up so that Ruth would be there watching." 

"You know, you've been spending a lot of time with Helga lately." 

"Yeah. But she changed...she's, like, more mature now. And prettier and just...better than before, I guess." 

"True, but still...she can still act a little pushy and mean like before...sometimes." 

Lila walked towards them. "Hi there Arnold." She fluttered her eye lashes. 

"Hi Lila. What's up?" Arnold replied. He saw Pheobe and Helga behind her. Helga went to her locker which was two lockers away from where Arnold was standing and listened to his conversation with Lila while Pheobe and Gerald pranced away with each other. 

"Do you have a date for the dance?" Lila smiled. She had been asked only once by Stinky but she turned him down. She wanted to go with Arnold...she thought that he still had feelings for her. 

"I'm sorry, Lila, but I'm going to ask someone today." 

"Oh. Well, then, I suppose I'll go by myself." She walked away, dropping her head down. 

"Aw, that's too bad. That makes another person without a date." Helga said, slamming her locker door. 

"Yeah." 

"Let's see...Lorenzo and Rhonda are going together as a rich couple, Harold and Patty are going together as who knows what, Gerald and Pheobe are going together as...some couple from Jane Eyre..." 

"Which is strange," Arnold interjected. 

"I bet Pheobe thought of the idea to be them." 

"Definately." They giggled. 

That afternoon at Arnold's basketball practice, he was tripping and missing shots because he always looked at the stands seeing Ruth sitting there talking with her friends and watching the practice. After practice, Arnold got the courage to go up to Ruth. 

"Hi Ruth." He smiled. 

"Oh, hi." She said, without paying much attention. 

"I'm Arnold..." 

"Are you that kid who's working on the newspaper?"

"Uh, yeah...well, I was wondering, you wanna go to the dance with me?" 

Ruth laughed with her friends. "How cute. See, I'm a senior and you're a Sophomore. That would be silly. Besides, I have a date. Sorry to have burst your bubble." She walked away and laughed with her friends. 

Arnold walked outside with Gerald. "I knew she would do that. Girls are like that, Arnold..." 

"I guess." Arnold kicked a stone. 

Gerald looked down at his watch. "Man, I gotta get going. If I get home late, my mom'll get really mad. Talk to you later!" Then he ran to the parking lot. 

Arnold walked to the football field. Harold was practicing his passes with Patty and Helga was sleeping on the grass. Suddenly, Helga screamed and clutched her side. "You idiots hit me!" 

Patty covered her mouth. "So sorry, Helga. I just threw the football the wrong way." She shouted across the field. 

"Yeah, don't get mad at my princess, Helga." Harold complained. 

Helga got up and threw the ball to him. "Ouch," she said under her breath. 

"Are you OK Helga?" Arnold walked over to her. 

She lifted her shirt a little and her side was red. "I guess I'm ok. It's just hurting." She rubbed it and saw that Arnold was feeling bad, since he was looking down. "How'd it go, football head?"

"Arrg. It was awful. She totally dissed me." Angrily, he kicked the grass. 

Helga didn't know what to say. "I guess we should um...get home." They walked to his car.

During the ride, Arnold couldn't stop talking about how much of a failure he was and how he wasn't good enough. 

"Ugh, I knew that I talked too much. I mean, she was always so…ugh…maybe I'm just too short or something…"

Helga couldn't stand his complaining so she just started complaining too. "ARNOLD! You're good enough. You're wonderful. Any girl who would turn you down is an idiot. They don't know how sweet and smart and wonderful you are. You're practically perfect. And that's why I've loved you so much." His eyes bugged out. She covered her mouth. "I mean..." 

"You've had a crush on me?" He asked with astonishment. 

She blushed and turned her head away. 

"So you do?" 

"Ever since preschool." 

"Wow."

He stopped in front of her house. "You know Helga, I can't believe you liked me. After all the yelling at me, pushing at me..."

"I had to. It hides the truth, you know?" She opened the door. 

"I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Yeah..." She slammed the door and ran into the house.   
  
A/N:: Hope You Liked It! 


	2. A Miracle

Chapter Two: A Miracle 

The whistle blew. Everyone in the team crowded around the coach. It was one of their last practices before they had to play the Eagles. The toughest school they've ever played against. So far, the school had never beat them before. 

Each person on the team worked especially hard or else they would be cut from the starting line…Arnold couldn't concentrate. All he could think of was Helga. Helga. Helga. How could he have not known she'd liked him so much? It was obvious. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Could he be feeling the same thing for her? _Shake it out, Man_ he thought. 

"Boys, you all worked really hard. And I've figured out the final starting line up," said the coach. "I'll have Gerald, Jerry, Marcus, Parker and Stinky." 

"Stinky?" Arnold and Gerald asked in disbelief. 

"What about me, Coach?" Arnold asked.

"Lately, Arnold, I just didn't know where your mind has been. You haven't been giving me 110% like you usually do. And I really don't think you'll cut it for the game. Sorry." 

Arnold just stood there as everyone else shuffled into the locker room. 

"Don't worry, Arnold. It'll be okay." Gerald said, with his hand on his shoulder. 

***

"Oh my gosh, Girls. Do you know what I heard?" Rhonda exclaimed at the lunch table. 

"What?" Helga asked, just to amuse her. 

"For the next game against the Eagles, the coach cut Arnold from the starting line up!" 

Helga's eyes widened. "Yeah right." 

"I am so totally serious! You DO know that we are in risk of losing to them the tenth year in a row if Arnold doesn't play. It's completely outrageous! I think the coach has serious problems." 

"Yeah…why do you think he's not playing though?"

"No idea. What do I look like? A magic 8 Ball?" 

Helga laughed nervously. Then Phoebe took a seat at the table. "Phebes!" Helga exclaimed. "I need to talk to you." 

They walked to the other side of the cafeteria. "What is it, Helga?" Phoebe asked in concern. 

"Did you hear about what the coach did to Arnold?"

"Yes…Gerald was just talking about it. He said that Arnold was so out of it. He kind of didn't blame the coach for doing what he did," said Phoebe. 

Helga crossed her arms. "This really sucks…I mean, ugh. This is all his own fault anyways." 

"What…?"

"He made me tell him that I liked him. And so – now…LOOK! He was too much in shock to do anything right." Helga complained. 

"You told him?"

"Yes, Phoebe. I told him! Is it such a crime that I want him to pine for me the way I've pined for him?? THAT I FINALLY COULDN'T STAND THE PRESSURE?!" She exclaimed. Everyone stared at her. "Mind your own business," she snapped back at them. 

"Helga, I think you should talk to Arnold…it seems that he's the only thing that's on your mind." 

Helga sighed and shrugged. She glanced at Arnold sitting with Gerald. "Yeah, I guess…" 

"See ya, Phebes…" she walked over to Arnold and sat down next to him. "Hey Arnold," she said. 

Gerald glanced at Helga. "Hey man. I'll see you later." He got up and left. 

Arnold tried to keep himself calm. "Hi Helga…"

"I heard about what happened…Are you okay?"

"Sure, I'm okay," Arnold sighed. "It's just – I don't know what got into me." _You know,_ he thought. _Say it now. It was Helga…you feel the same way about her. _"Um, Helga." 

"Yeah Arnoldo?"

"I…uh…well. Um…"

"Yeah…?" She asked eagerly. 

Arnold shook his head. "I can't believe he took me off the starting line up." 

"Maybe something will come up and you'll be able to play." Said Helga, looked around.   
"It'll take a miracle." Arnold chuckled.   
"Maybe with an angel it'll work," Helga said. Suddenly she had an idea. _Maybe I can ask the coach to let him play,_ Helga thought. _Nah, why would a guy coach listen to a measly little girl like me…? Well, it's worth a shot. _Slowly, Helga got up. "Arnold, I'll talk to you later. See you after the game." She winked and walked away. 

Helga walked to the boys' locker room to see the coach. She wanted to make him let Arnold play again. I mean, it probably was partly her fault he couldn't play. Right? Helga took a deep breath and walked towards the locker room with her eyes closed. When she opened them, she saw that there was nothing wrong with the boy's locker room. It was just like the girl's locker room....but smellier. She looked around the locker room and saw the coach sitting on a bench and flipping through a play book.   
"Coach?" Helga said almost in a whisper.   
The Coach turned around and saw Helga. "Whoa, did I come in the wrong locker room?" He got up and looked around, scratching his head.

"Oh, no. It's just that, I'm here to ask you something. About Arnold." 

"Oh...Arnold. What about him?" 

"Well, see, he IS ready to play. He can play in the next game! You know you need him, coach," she persuaded.    
"He hasn't been in to the game lately, I don't think he can handle today." 

"C'mon Coach! There's no one better than him. If you let him play, you guys can beat the Eagles! For the first time in five years! Am I right? You can make headlines too!" 

He scratched his chin and started thinking. "Yeaah. That's true. But if we don't win because I let him in the game, I'll be shouted at and get a bad reputation!" 

Helga gave a crooked smile. "I know he'll do well today. Because, well, he didn't want me to tell you this, but yesterday he went to the doctor's right before practice. And he needed to be numbed - a lot - so the numbing didn't go away yet. That's why he was so out of it." 

"What did he need to be numbed for?" 

"He had a...um...infected...something in both of his arms, so they had to numb him and get him tested for something." Helga lied. 

"Wow. Poor Arnold," he replied stupidly.

"And the only way he'll get better is if you let him play today!" She glanced at a paper on the bleacher that had the name of the starting players. Stinky was going to take his place. 

"I'll see about that." The Coach said. Helga smiled and ran off.

"You won't regret it!" 

Now Helga had to look for Stinky. She saw him outside, sitting under a tree, looking at the birds. He was always a really country type boy.

Helga couldn't believe he even made the Varsity team, couldn't even believe he was good enough to take Arnold's place. "Hey Stinky!"   
"Hi Helga." Stinky said, getting up. 

"Stinky, my friend...I have a proposition for you." She put her arm around him. "I'll give you something if you can, oh let's say, pretend to get hurt and not play in tomorrow's game?"   
"Look Helga, I'm not as stupid as I was before. You're going to really have to give me a good reason..." 

"I'll give you six Mr. Nutty bars!" Helga interjected. 

"fifteen." 

"Ten."

"Eleven." 

"Ten." 

"Nine!" 

"Deal." She shook his hand and took out a few dollars for him to buy the Mr. Nutty bars. She walked away and while Stinky was counting his money, he slammed into a tree. 

***

  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE INJURED, STINKY?!" The coach screamed in the locker room. 

"It just plain means that my leg is broken. See coach?" Stinky pointed. "And a broken nose." He pointed at his nose. 

The Coach growled and crumbled up a piece of paper. "Now who can take his place?" 

"I can!" Arnold said. 

The Coach looked at Arnold suspiciously. "Are you sure? You're not numbed or anything?"

"Uh...no sir." Arnold raised an eyebrow. 

"If you mess up out there, I'm dead, got it?!" The Coach stomped his foot. Arnold nodded.

"Alright, don't let me regret this. GO OUT THERE AND KILL 'EM!" 

Arnold helped Stinky get out to the gym as he held all his Mr. Nutty Bars with him. "How'd you get so many Mr. Nutty bars?" Arnold asked. 

Stinky told Arnold what Helga did. 

"Helga actually did that?"

"Yup, Arnold. I reckon she musta had really good reasons to go all that way." 

Arnold smiled goofily. "Helga's really something, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I reckon."

  
In the gym, people were roaring with excitement and there were banners everywhere. Arnold looked around for Helga. Then he saw her with Phoebe cheering the team on. 

The game was intense. Arnold and Gerald made most of the shots. At the fourth quarter with one minute left, the team was behind by one point. 

The Eagles made another two-pointer, then Arnold got fouled. He stepped at the line, bouncing twice and shot. It rolled around the rim and…YES! It made, the second shot made as well. Now they were tied with twenty seconds left. The Eagles were in posession of the ball. Before they made it backcourt, Gerald stole the ball from one of the other team members. Arnold ran up to him. Gerald passed him the ball. He quickly dribbled down to the key and then the buzzer rang just a millisecond after Arnold let go of the ball. Slowly the ball went around the hoop and fell in.

Everyone cheered! For the first time ever, the school had beat the Eagles! 

Everyone cheered for Gerald and Arnold. Once everyone got to shake their hands, the coach congratulated them and said sorry to Arnold for not letting him play before. Gerald walked off with Phoebe and Arnold saw Helga walking towards him slowly, smiling. 

"I see the coach let you play," Helga said slyly.   
"Yeah, with the help of an angel." Arnold hugged her. "Helga, I'm sorry for making you tell me that you liked me. It was wrong of me…you were entitled to keeping your secret. I just yanked it out of you." 

"That's alright, Arnold." She grinned. 

"And Helga…"

"Yes?" 

"Will you go to the dance with me?" He asked softly. Helga nearly melted. 

"Of course, Arnold. Of course." She looked at him and smiled.   
  
After another few days, the dance came. Arnold and Helga dressed up as Romeo and Juliet, since when they were doing the play, it was the first time she actually got to kiss him. "You know, Helga," said Arnold as they danced to the music slowly. 

"Yes Arnold?"

"I haven't realized it until last week…but then…the truth is, I've always liked you. For the longest time. I just couldn't admit it, or let myself believe it. Well, what I'm trying to say is that I love you, Helga." 

Helga smiled and was almost about to cry. "I love you too, Arnold." She put her hands on his neck and pulled him to her lips. As they shared their first REAL kiss.   
ThE END!!!!!!  
  



End file.
